08/29/2018
We wait on God for those things we ask of Him in our prayers, the healing, the provision, the protection, and sundry other requests, but even more than those, do we wait on Him to reveal and return His Son Jesus Christ to claim us? Do we pray every day, throughout the day, for the return of Christ, or are we perfectly satisfied in this life? Certainly we have daily needs in this world to pray for, but none greater than the homecoming of our Lord Jesus.
“"Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.”
Luke 12:35-36 ESV
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard Christians say “Sure I want Jesus to return... just not right now (or today)!” This is often said as if it were a joke, but is it really? We are too comfortable living our lives. Certainly we experience suffering, but it is a familiar suffering we have grown accustomed to. Intertwined within our pain and anguish are all our great loves; loves for family, children, spouses, and the trappings of the world like wealth, fame, and power. These things keep us wanting to remain in the present world, and they also drive our forgetfulness in remembering to ask that Jesus come NOW whenever we pray!
“He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
Revelation 22:20 ESV
So we go to our knees each day, and drift off to sleep each night praying for all the things we need in this world, and for provision and comfort for all of our loved ones who surround us or have gone on... then, if we do so at all, we quickly add “Come, Lord Jesus” to the tail end of our prayer. What should be our greatest desire becomes the hastily added closing words of prayer as if they were a routine attachment to “Amen.” But, do we really long for that moment? Have we been eagerly preparing ourselves, our families, and all those in our lives, for the instant of rapture?
“training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Titus 2:12-14 ESV
Then there are those of us who love Jesus, and worship God, but when asked what the first thing they want to see or do is when they reach heavenly glory, the New Jerusalem, they reply that it is to be reunited with a loved one who has gone before them, or to see the streets paved with gold, or some other wonder that awaits... but the face of Jesus, and the worship of God the Father seems to have slipped a bit to second or third place on that list of the seven great desires in heaven. Somehow the things we have loved physically in this world have taken precedence over the spiritual loves for God and Jesus Christ. Certainly Jesus wants us to love one another, after all those loves are reflections of His love for us, but despite the intensity of our earthly relationships and the depth of our longings, they should pale in comparison to our desire for God and Jesus.... Our God’s name is jealous.
“(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),”
Exodus 34:14 ESV
Yes, we love one another, and it is scriptural to do so, but no love comes before that of God Himself. So we should pray every day, and all day long, that Jesus returns for us, and we should live and work diligently towards that moment. Our loves, provisions, comforts, healings, and all the other great things of this world should be included in our prayers, because they serve to increase us and our efforts for the kingdom, and they help us as we work within the will of God as we prepare for His Son’s coming, but nothing should be placed before our one great prayer... to be united with Jesus Christ and God Himself. This is the embodiment of our most adamant prayer, and belief...
“when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”
2 Thessalonians 1:10 ESV
Are we ready? I mean are we ready right now... every day... every hour... every minute... every second! Is our greatest and most honest prayer that Jesus should return for us? NOW? And, when He does, will our hearts greatest desire at that moment be God?
Even so, “Come now Lord Jesus!”
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the promise of your Son’s return, and I thank you for all of the loves and trappings of this world, but Holy Father, my greatest desire in that moment of the coming rapture is to be in your presence... lifted there by the redemptive blood of Christ, and my faith in Him, and you. Hear my prayers Merciful Father as I call out to you for the immediate return of your Son, and the quickening of my body and soul in that instant of ecstatic joy! Let nothing cast a shadow at that moment, and let there be nothing that stands between me and my love for you as I praise your name with all the saints, and heavenly host. You are greater than creation, and the greatest in all of heaven, hear my voice as I cry out to you, feel my tears as I weep for your presence, see my face as I turn it up to you in praise, and look down on the crown of my head as I kneel before you throughout eternity. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you, and this I sing in praise and worship because you were, and are, and are to come in eternal glory; my God and King forever! Come Now Lord Jesus my savior... quicken me, and carry me before our Heavenly Father. Let nothing delay your arrival, and let all creation sing at your return; by your presence let every prayer rise at once amidst the thunder on the earth.
“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”
Revelation 8:3-5 ESV
Rich Forbes